Each edition grades its towns against each other only.
Most of Peoria was built recently: 5% of its homes predate 1940 and the median home dates from 1998. Below: maps from 1907 on and the census since 1900.
The Peoria post office opened in 1891, the earliest record of the town by name.
Peoria was named for the Peoria people, a tribe of Native Americans who were removed to Indian Territory from east of the Mississippi River during the 19th century.
Read from the archive, the National Register and the record. The page puts what stands out first.
The first neighbors to add old photos shape how Peoria’s history is told.
Peaked at 227 in 1940; 126 people lived here in 2020.
13 censuses, 1900–2020.
U.S. Census Bureau decennial counts, from the census table on Peoria’s Wikipedia page.
Every edition of the U.S. Geological Survey’s map of Peoria. Tap a year, or press play to watch the town change.
U.S. Geological Survey historical topographic maps (public domain), via Esri’s collection of the scans. The red ring marks the center of Peoria.
From Wikipedia’s history of Peoria.
The area of northeastern Oklahoma around Peoria has long been associated with mineral extraction. The Native Americans had operated a chert quarry here well before the area was visited by Europeans. This was part of the territory of the Quapaw people, and later the Peoria and related remnant tribes.
Text from Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0.
Woven from the archive, old maps, post office records, the National Register and the people born here.
On the mapFirst mapped by the U.S. Geological SurveyWeddings on Main Street, storms, parades, school pictures, the old store. If it’s in your family album, it belongs here.
Nobody well known was born in Peoria itself, so here are the best known from just nearby.
Peoria had its own post office from 1891 to 1941.
US Post Offices dataset (Blevins & Helbock, CC0). Places and cemeteries from the USGS Geographic Names Information System (2021).
The Peoria post office opened in 1891, the earliest record of the town by name (U.S. post office records).
What the archives can’t tell you, neighbors can.
Founding dates: Wikidata, Wikipedia, the U.S. post office records of Blevins & Helbock (CC0) and the Census. Homes by year built: Census ACS 2020–24. National Register of Historic Places: National Park Service (list of May 22, 2026). Old photos, postcards and papers: Wikimedia Commons, the Library of Congress and other public archives, credited on each item’s page. Maps: U.S. Geological Survey historical topographic maps (via Esri) and Sanborn fire-insurance maps (Library of Congress). History text and census tables: Wikipedia (CC BY-SA 4.0). Places that used to be: USGS Geographic Names Information System (2021). How TownRatings grades history →
From Wikipedia, U.S. Geological Survey historical maps, U.S. Census counts (via Wikipedia), the US Post Offices dataset (Blevins & Helbock) and the USGS Geographic Names Information System. Archive images are copied here with their credits and licenses, shown on each photo’s page. Refreshed monthly.
